"We are extremely pleased that the FCC has adopted new and powerful rules prohibiting digital discrimination.  We have nonetheless challenged two small, but important provisions of the rules today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In a world that is increasingly reliant on connectivity to deliver education, healthcare, government services, and economic opportunities, few policy priorities are more important than ensuring equitable access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet networks. We believe that these invaluable rules could be strengthened by seeking a judicial decision ordering the FCC to create a formal complaint procedure and to apply the full force of the rules to recipients of future grants from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. We trust that the Court will agree."

New Street Research took a deeper dive into the risks faced by wireline broadband operators if the government fails to refund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and it were to be shut down this spring. The study confirms that Charter Communications faces the greatest risk—by far. Charter's peers face much less financial exposure if a chunk of those ACP recipients, which have been getting a $30 subsidy each month, end up disconnecting or taking their business elsewhere. The bottom line from an earnings standpoint: "The loss of ACP is barely material for Comcast and not material for Altice [USA], Frontier, Lumen, and others," New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin explained in a new report that followed up his recent Charter-focused study of the ACP issue.

Peggy Braffet and her husband think about broadband a lot. When guests show up to their pick-your-own berry farm, they sometimes expect to be able to pay with credit cards, but the Braffets' slow internet connection won't allow it. The Braffet’s frustration, compounded by the fact that neighbors just a half-mile away have fast internet, reflects that of many rural Illinois residents. An influx of federal dollars included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 may offer a path forward, and some Illinois county and business leaders are readying themselves for investment with a new program from the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society. Within Illinois, internet service providers, called ISPs, will submit applications to help pay for the construction of new internet lines. Counties that went through the Broadband Breakthrough program created plans that outlined how they’d target infrastructure money, giving the counties and their chosen ISP partners an advantage in the application process, said Adrianne B. Furniss, the Benton Institute’s executive director. In Hancock County, at least two internet service providers have already applied for and will continue to apply for broadband expansion grants as the federal dollars become available, said Samantha Harnack, executive director of Hancock County Economic Development. Those relationships, and having a concrete plan in place for expansion, are key to being approved, she said. “The state is 100% not going to give anyone a grant that doesn’t have their ducks in a row,” Harnack said. “The federal government, same thing.”

Tracking broadband funding awards as they happen. In January 2024:

• Colorado announced plans to award $113 million in Capital Projects Fund dollars for 27 broadband projects across the state.
• Nebraska dished out $19.7 million in grant funding to 10 ISPs, with local providers taking the lion’s share.
• North Carolina was approved to use $82.2 million in Capital Projects Fund money to connect 16,000 homes and businesses in the state.
• Oklahoma allocated $374 million in ARPA funding to 31 ISPs for broadband projects covering more than 55,000 locations.
• South Dakota doled out $32.4 million in grant funding to three ISPs, all of which were local providers.

Precision agriculture involves collecting, analyzing, and taking actions based on data. It can help the agricultural sector meet increasing demand for food products, while also helping farmers improve efficiencies such as through reduced input costs. The Advancing IoT for Precision Agriculture Act of 2021, contained in what is commonly referred to as the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, included provisions for GAO to conduct a technology assessment and review federal programs. This report examines emerging precision agriculture technologies and precision agriculture technology adoption;  federal programs providing support for precision agriculture; benefits and challenges of adopting and using precision agriculture technologies; and policy options that could address challenges or help enhance benefits of adopting and using precision agriculture technologies. Broadband internet plays an important role in operating a farm, but not all precision agriculture technologies rely on broadband. It is an enabler of precision agriculture technologies, facilitating the transfer of data collected in the field to software for data analysis. Data can be transferred through wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, or through a physical connection, such as a universal serial bus (USB) drive. Some software technologies require uploading the data into their platforms in the cloud to conduct the data analysis. Recommendations, such as application guidance maps using variable rate technology, are downloaded and transferred to equipment. According to USDA, peer-reviewed research on the required connection speeds for precision agriculture technologies is not yet available.

It’s always been a hassle when a business loses broadband. But in the last few years, an increasing number of businesses have been telling me that they are practically immobilized when they lose broadband. This is because businesses, especially small and medium businesses, increasingly rely on software in the cloud. So many day-to-day functions, from timekeeping and payroll systems, reservation systems, to online sales portals, now require a broadband connection. This has made businesses become hyper-aware of broadband outages. In the many surveys and interviews we conduct, businesses say that being without broadband for even a few minutes brings them to a screeching halt. Unfortunately, many businesses live on networks provided by unreliable internet service providers. It’s not unusual to hear from businesses that have several all-day or half-day broadband outages every year and dozens of shorter duration. I

CEO's from Meta, Snap, X, TikTok, and Discord testified in a contentious and emotional Senate hearing on child online safety. Lawmakers invoked the stories of online child abuse victims—many of whom sat directly behind the tech leaders—to issue a stunning rebuke to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and other executives. Evan Spiegel, chief executive of Snap, and Linda Yaccarino, who leads X, both agreed to support the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, which would require online services like social media networks, video game sites and messaging apps to take “reasonable measures” to prevent harm—including online bullying, harassment, exploitation, anorexia, self-harm and predatory marketing—to minors who use their platforms. Several senators acknowledged the futility of their legislative response to date, despite a bipartisan consensus that the current laws don’t adequately address harms to children on the platforms.